The Swarm
by Cobra of England
Summary: They're like the Reapers,but worse. How can they be worse? Many ways...
1. Behemoth

I couldn't believe that no one has written a Mass Effect story with the Tyranids. Yes,their a bit like the Reapers but they are simply _better_.

* * *

"What the fuck is that?" Joker stared out at the Reaper ship. Or,at least he had thought it was a Reaper ship. But this one appeared to be...well..._alive_ almost.

"What the fuck is what, Joker?"

"That"

"Ah, That"

The "That" they were talking about looked like a Reaper ship but it was bigger. A lot bigger. At least 20 Kilometeres in length with features like tentacles like a Reaper ship but it appeared to have rows of...Seeds?...attatched and were those...Teeth and Eyes? This was just getting stranger and stranger. Combined with the fact this _ship _if you could call it that had, rather unceremoniously, brought them out of a FTL jump and completely trashed their FTL drive although it should be repairable in a few hours as well...there was only one thing to do.

"EDI, tell Garrus,Jacob,Miranda,Mordin and Wrex to assemble in the hanger. We're going in."

* * *

"Right, people. We have a unidentified alien ship that has somehow disabled our FTL systems. Which, according to Mordin, is impossible. The size of ship is also, seemingly, impossible. We shoot first, ask questions later if their anything that vaguely resembles a Reaper or Geth. We protect Mordin so he can gather as much information on this new species." Shepard nodded at Mordin "The ship has no lifeforms aboard but there will be defence turrets of some sort on board so don't get cocky" Shepard had briefed them on the short fight from the Normandy.

Garrus stared at one of the massive weapon implacements they were flying past"Look at those weapons! Sheesh, do they intend to take on a whole battlefleet with one ship?"

Mordin motioned for the Commander to come over. "Commander,I don't detect any sign of Element zero or any Mass Effect related technology. In fact,there appears to be no sign of anything resembling metal or artificial. The whole ship appears to have been grown biologically."

"How do you grow a ship that size?"

"Just another question for these aliens, sir"

"If we get to ask questions" Shepard replied darkly,staring at the weapons as the shuttle neared what he presumed to be a landing bay.

There were no ships in the landing bay. Only dragons. Shepards team walked through what appeared to be a necropolis for myths and legends. These creatures were massive,some were the size of the Normandy or bigger! And this was one of many similar bays they had passed when they had flown over...

"Joker, can you see what I'm seeing right now?"

"Yes Commander, I can't believe it either. If it were anyone but you, I'd say you'd edited the feed. Up ahead is a raised bridge of some sort. I guess that's for foot soldiers. Go left when you get there and there should be a stair of some sort to access the next level."

Shepard and the team followed the instructions relayed to them by Joker when Joker radioed over "Commander, isn't this a little too easy? I've had no suveilience cameras or drones, no turrets and no sentries. And from the scanners,you seem to be right next to their equivalent of the CIC. Watch yourself Commander."

"Did you hear that?" Shepard turned to find Garrus aiming at the ceiling,looking worried. "Hear what?" And then he heard it before he saw it. What appeared to at first glance to be a humanoid with the usual number of limbs reared up to its full height and roared a ailen,reptilian shriek before it charged with surprising speed. At Wrex.

Wrex raised his shotgun and fired. The alien went flying backwards from the point blank range blast before rising back to its feet and scampering away.

Wrex roared after the retreating alien "That all you got?!" before he turned towards the Commander. Shepard shook his head,motioning they should continue into the ship. Garrus looked unsettled by the encounter with the alien. " Guess they have no barriers then,Mordin. Mordin?"Garrus turned to find the Salarian gone.

" Commander, Mordin's vanished."

"What do you mean vanished?"

"He was here and now he's just gone! I diddnt hear anything!

* * *

Next chapter I throw in a few Rippers and the Shadow in the Warp...and what it does to Biotics...


	2. Forgotten Histories and New Beginings

A/N: Thanks for the advice people and this one may get messy tracking the progress of the reinforcement team. I also add a bit of background for 40K.

* * *

"Joker, this may have escalated a bit. Take the Normandy round to the other size of the ship and send Thane, Legion, Liara,nJack and Tali in via the other hanger bay. And tell them to look for Mordin will you?."

"Just like the Collector base eh Commander?"

"Now isn't the time for reminding ourselves of the past, Joker. What we've got here could be the biggest threat since the Reapers, get on with it"

"Ok Commander, no need to get hyped up."

* * *

It had been asleep for a long time. It reached out for the ever-present guiding hand of the Hive-Mind and found it was not there. Instead,there were thousands of little threads for it to guide. And for the first time ever, it _felt._ That startled it. That it was startled made it begin to think. And remember. The Imperium,with their backs against the wall allied with remmannts of the Tau and Eldar and fought a last ditch fight against the Eternal Swarm. Parts of the Swarm died,yet the Hive-Mind ordered its minions forwards regardless. Even when the C'Tan named the Void Dragon led the Necrons in a desperate counter-attack, the last bastion of uncorrupted Humanity fell to the Great Devourer.

The rest was a jumbled blur but one thing was certain:somthing had changed it. Somthing that could have been a god, a daemon, the Astrominican and it's massive psycic explosion when the Golden Throne was destroyed by the ravening hordes. Or all three. The newly-awakened Hive Mind looked for the Eternal Swarm and found it had vanished. Destroyed by Chaos? Impossible. The psychic explosion frying the connections between it and them? Possibily.

While looking for the rest of the swarm,it found two things that worried it:the first was the lack of Narvals,the Tyranid FTL system. The second was a team of borders that was steadily working its way towards the Norn-Queen's chamber in the ship. It smiled, another new thing,and began awakening its minions.

* * *

"Shepard, we've landed and heading towards the aliens CIC. No contact so far."

"Stay cautious Thane-These things can come from anywhere. Any signs of Mordin?"

"None so far Commander but we're on a completely different deck to you and no one has seen anything like stairs or a elevator yet."

Shepard turned the com system off before saying "Second fire team is moving from the other side and they haven't encountered any resistance yet. We need to move. Grunt, you take point. Miranda, first sight of any swarms,I want a barrier up. Garrus, you act as a scout-kill the things,but only if their alone. Jacob, you guard Miranda. I'll take rear guard. No speeches. Move!"

* * *

"Thane, What the fuck is that?"

"Appears to be a toxin of some sort, by the amount of it. It's the perfect place for a ambush. Jack, get a barrier up. I have a suspicion about what's on the other side... Where is that barrier?" Thane turned towards Jack.

"I...I can't use them."

"What do you mean you can't use them? Legion,do you know of any biotic dampeners?"

Legion pushed forwards to the front of the group.

"Jack's statement is illogical. Biotics can be used anywhere. There are no records of a Biotic dampener in existence."


	3. One Body, Many Voices, No Answers

A/N: I had a brilliant idea yesterday while thinking about where I'm going to take this so enjoy!

* * *

"And Mordin should be in the CIC if the signal is anything to go by."

"What about the second fire team?"

"They've encountered a substantial amount of a non toxic gas but can't advance due to the chance of a ambush. Commander, I think the aliens want you there. Preferably alone,it seems."

"Thanks for the update Joker. Right, the second fire team can't progress so the whole thing is up to us for now. And don't rely on biotics-from anything Joker has had from the other team, Jack couldn't form a barrier so there is some form of biotic blocker aboard. Our first priority is to take the CIC and find out where the dampener is and why we can't make a FTL jump."

The team continued to advance down the corridor which appeared to be made of flesh of some sort. They then reached the first door on the ship,a constuction made entirely out of some form of reinforced carapace.

"Grunt, take these doors down."

"Gladly"

The Krogan charged at the doors and easly broke through them. .They had been grown to resist easier prey,it seemed. As they progressed into the chamber,they stopped and stared at the sights before them. The first was a creature at least 20 feet high with some form of gun attached to its body and two sets of massive claws that could crush through just about anything. It appeared to be sleeping, which was fortunate as it seemed like a bodyguard for the other creature.

The other creature, if it was a creature, appeared to be a brain. Only grown to massive proportions like the other creature it appeared to be levitating and wired into the rest of the ship.

"_Well it appears there is some intelligent life in this galaxy. Humans though...hmmm. Should have killed me already,different from Imperium then. Chances of two races having the same DNA in two different galaxy though..." _ The voice sounded like hundreds speaking at once yet Shepard couldn't see the speaker.

"Where are you,alien?"

_"No taunting then? Not what I expected from a human. Not at all. And what a interesting xeno you have... Not many could fight a Broodlord and live."_

At that point the voice changed.

"_I feel a alien in the other group that has interesting... Possibilities for my cult. It's so clean here, there's no trace of lust."_ This voice sounded exactly like Ashley had before her death but more seductive.

The voice changed to what sounded like a commander giving a speech to his troops and compared to the others,normal. "I will not let you corrupt Humanity again,foul spawn of Chaos! You were a fool to come here, Commander."

The next voice sounded like a plague-ridden krogan. "Don't listen to the corpse, Commander. Or the bird face and that upstart. Only I have this galaxy's interests at heart. I will protect you, like all my followers..."

There was a loud howl from the sleeping creature as the brain began to speak again. This voice sounded like a krogan bezerker "Now the rust-buckets out the way, I can settle the real business of this. Blood for...!"

The voice peeled off into another that sounded like it was enjoying itself, simply laughed and laughed while saying "This is so much fun!"

A voice that sounded like death itself simply said "Damn Jester"

After that, there was simply silence.

There was a loud sigh that seemed to echo throughout the ship. The first voice spoke again. "It appears my idiot brothers as well as that thrice-damned corpse are in here as well." It sighed again. "It appears I will have to take precautions that we are not interrupted." A shimmering blue and purple barrier that looked unlike any biotic barrier Shepard had seen covered the brain while the creature woke up. "Now we can,as humans like to say, get down to business."


	4. The Normandy

"What do you mean you can't move? Your ship got here,it has to be able to move!"

"Shepard,I've already told you. Our FTL systems,the Narvals,will take at least a week to grow and the approach run will take a decade,if not more! If that's not enough,the Narval causes massive disasters in the system we were heading to." The Hive Minds avatar,the 20 foot tall "Tyranid" as it calls itself was sitting on the floor of the ship,refusing to show Mordin before the council arrived. "There is another solution,however. I go on your ship."

"Except for the fact that your ship has prevented any form of FTL travel anywhere near it,that would be fine. And then there's the matter of your... Size."

"The shadow can be disabled at will fortunately and as for size... I will take control of a smaller organism. A warrior,I think."

Shepard nodded agreement. This Hive Mind was sounding more and more like a Reaper every minute. "I'll need your name though if I am going to introduce you to the council and my crew."

At that point the massive creature collapsed to the floor and a second creature walked in.

The second creature seemed a shrunken version of the first creature. It was only six feet tall,compared to the others twenty but otherwise all the limbs and armaments were the same but it had wings as well.

"My name is Magus,Commander"

* * *

The walk back to the shuttle went quickly although the crew were understandably worried about Magnus's size and the shuttle. However the problem was solved quickly when it was revealed Magnus could survive in vacuum.

The crew were slightly awed by Mangus. His size and his sheer presence were that was like having a god aboard. Miranda,as usual,raised the first question.

" Commander,where is he going to sleep?"

Mangus replied ahead of the commander "I do not require sleep. Or air. Or anything."

Gardener asked "What about food? Everyone's got to eat. Even aliens!"

Mangus replied "I would not mention food again, any of you. I can keep their baser instincts under control but food would cause them to become feral. Be glad you haven't encountered any of those yet."

**Yandoa,Unknown Location,Systems Alliance Colony World**

++Intercepted Transmission++

Fuck! They're everywhere! They cut through the defences like a krogan bezerker going through paper! We can't hold them back. There are no survivors outside the perimeter.

Hell,they've brought up some kind of walking battle tank and now their throwing even more of those four-armed reptilian horrors at us! I don't know how long we'll be able to hold. Any ships who intercept this,tell the Alliance to avenge us. At least they don't have barriers. Here they come... (Screaming and the sound of gunfire)

++Transmission End++ ++Rerouted to Articus Station++


	5. Lost Memories

A/N: More background as some people want to know what happened back in the WH galaxy... There will be more non-background chapters tomorrow!

* * *

The Hive Mind slowly began to remember more.

Before the battle of Holy Terra, the Hive Mind,while not fully aware of what would happen, needed a weapon to soften up the defences around Terra. The Imperium had put up a fight, denying valuable biomass to the Tyranids. Eventually, all the races that could be negotiated with set about killing as many Tyranids as possible in defence of a planet before destroying it.

One of these worlds was Cadia. The bulwark at the Eye of Terror had stood untaken through twelve Black Crusades. The Thirteenth would be its undoing as the Imperium moved all it's vast armies to defend the Segumentum Solar with its allies, the Tau, Eldar and Necrons,who had only agreed as the Tyranids were the only race that could wipe them all out and prevent phasing out.

The Tyranids, unable to replenish their stores of Biomass, let the Black Crusade attack Terra and just like the last time Tratiors made it to Terra, they were repulsed with heavy losses before Tyranids slaughtered their way through the remaining defences. Their undoing was the destruction of the Golden Throne, destabalizing the Astronomicon and severering the connections between the Hive Mind and the rest of the Tyranid swarm.

It was all the Hive Mind could do to keep its own vessel and the Tyranids aboard under it's influence. In its weakened state,it could have been mentally dominated by any of the other powers in the Galaxy. And they all tried. Who the winner was, none could say.


	6. Answers

"There's one thing I'm curious about Magnus- How exactly do Tyranids prevent biotics and Mass Effect FTL jumps happening"

Magnus continued staring out into space before answering "About the FTL jumps, I actually don't know. Probabaly somthing to do with psychic auras of the Nids and the synapse connection between them acting as a giant net around the ship. As for the biotics,they manipulate magnetic fields and bio-electricity, correct? The ship, being entirely bio-electricaly powered, it, like all Tyranids , consumes everything necessary for the swarm to continue to reproduce and suvive- It simply absorbs bio-electricity to power itself. It's the same with the magnetic fields- the ship augments them so that a combination of all the fields generated by all living creatures on the ship are used to project a shield around the ship in battle."

"And how is any of that possible?" Shepard asked as they were nearing the Citadel.

"I actually don't know. You'd have to ask the creators, and no one has any idea who they are so..."

"You mean you diddn't create them?"

"I am only a... Recent addition to the Swarm, by our standards."

"And that makes you..."

Magnus turned and said "four thousand years or so, I think? I'm one hell of a lot older though."

Shepard whistled. "You must live a million years to consider four thousand years to be short."

"Commander, we're about to dock with the Citadel. The Council are really interested in these "Tyranids"."

Magnus laughed at this. Shepard asked why. The strange alien replied "It's a inside joke Commander. The last time I met with humans anywhere, they had a shoot-on-sight policy for ailens, traitors, mutants and heritics.

"You must come from a strange place, Magnus"

"Stranger than you think, Commander. Stranger than you think."

* * *

"Normandy, this is Citadel Control. You have been cleared for landing in Bay D24."

"Roger that, Citadel Control." Joker replied. "Beginning approach"

"Shepard,I have a communication from the Council. Would you like me to put it on screen?"

Shepard had been trying to get some rest before the meeting with the Council. It appeared that would no longer be a option.

"Yes EDI, put the damm Council on screen."

The screen glowed before the faces of the three Councilers appeared on it.

"Commander, I trust you know why we are here." Sparticos, the Turian, stated.

"Yes Councilor, I know why you contacted me before we arrived."

"We wish to know whatever this "Magnus" told you about his race" the Salarian asked quickly. "Like weapons, for example" Sparticos intrupted. "and other things as well, such as their history" the Asari Councilor interjected, giving Sparticos a look.

"Well, weaponswise, they don't have any mass effect weapons. Or anything that looks like a old relic from history." Sheperd started "In fact, their ships have no Mass Effect technology at all. Or any technology at all."

"Er, Commander, if a race is capable of space travel, they must have some technology" Valern asked.

"That's where you're wrong, Councillor. If you looked at the list of inventions the Tyranids have, it's shocking."

"You mean they have energy weapons?" Sparticos asked eagerly.

"No Councillor, it's the other way. They haven't discovered fire or metal, it appears."

"A space faring race without fire or metal? Commander, are you making this up?" the Asari asked.

"No Councillor, I know it sounds incredible but these Tyranids have no need of anything. They have evolved with the ability to survive without anything. They appear to grow ships from biomass they harvest as well as new Tyranids. They have no free will, being linked to bigger and bigger Tyranid creatures, eventually getting to the Hive Mind which Magnus, along with others I have heard, is part of."

"Then why is only Magnus on your ship, and not all of them?" Tevos asked, concerned that they would only listen to a fraction of the Tyranid race.

"Councillor, with all due respect, the others in the Hive Mind don't seem... Stable."

"What do you mean by stable,Commander?" Valern asked.

"The other parts seemed interested in other things. One had a interest with a type of alien, I don't know which. One sounded like a Cerberus Operative that obeys the rules to the letter, another like a Krogan Warlord. One sounded mad while another seemed to despise the mad one. The last promised me protection from everything. Do they seem stable?"

"Commander, other than the mad one, you should have brought them!" Tevos practically shouted at him.

"Councillor, Magnus prevented them from coming. He seemed to think they would "prevent business", his exact words."

"Nevertheless, Commander, you made a serious mistake. Tell Magnus if the Hive Mind acts like a insect queen, tell him the entirety of the Hive Mind must speak with us. No exceptions."

The channel closed. Shepard sighed, hoping the Council would be ready for what was coming their way...

* * *

A/N: All chapters from here will be bigger and update times will be longer but the chapters should be better as well.


	7. Freedom

"So this Council acts as a meditation board between all the races in the Galaxy but all the races have their own governments and only three have a seat on the Council? That Asari may want to meet the Hive Mind, but have you warned her?"

"Magnus, the Council never listens to me. Or anyone other than themselves. I should have let them die on the Destiny Asencion." Shepard said as they walked towards the Council chambers. "I'm not going in with you Magnus, as much as I'd like to, but I have things to do. Try not to kill any of them, though."

Magnus laughed. "Killing is so uncivilised, Commander. Sometimes a word can be as good as a gun."

Shepard walked out towards the car, looking forwards to some well earned R&R.

* * *

A few hours later...

"Reports from the Presidium say that while large portions of the Presidium are in need of repair, the Councilors were found alive in the wreckage of the Council Chambers. Rumours that the Council was meeting a ambassador from a previously unknown alien race are rife, along with that this could have been a Cerberus attack. No survivors other than the Council have been found, having been killed with previously unknown weapons. A scientist from the STG, who is studying these injuries and the strange projectiles they fire, is here to tell us more. So..." The news broadcast was being watched all over Council space. Shepard sighed. It appeared Magnus was right.

* * *

Earlier in the Presidium...

"It is a honour to meet the..."

"Shut up Asari, you wanted to meet the Hive Mind in full? So I need to give you instructions. The voices will all speak through this Tyranid, and the eyes will change colour depending on which part of the Hive Mind you are talking to. We can all hear this conversation however once I disable the field, so no back dealing. Remember, you brought this upon yourselves..."

"Just get on with it Magnus." Sparticos said.

"I'm bringing down the field now..." Magnus's unusual voice was almost immediately replaced by another as his previously light blue eyes changed to a luminous gold.

"Curse you foul spawn of Chaos! Wait, what have we here..." The Tyranid stared at the Councilors. "Three unknown xenos... How interesting. But xenos are fit for one thing, and one thing only:Death!"The voice shouted and the Tyranid began to move forwards when the eyes flashed to a sickly green.

It stopped and appeared to begin having a argument with itself. "Now, Now, don't kill all the interesting xenos for me corpse, I haven't had a chance to test the Zombie plague yet!"

The eyes changed to blood red and it began moving forwards and raised its gun while it started to roar "Blood for the..."

The eyes flashed to a alternating black and silver. "More things to harvest..."

The eyes changed so one was black and the other was white. It roared "Freedom!"

The Councilors stared at the Tyranid as it said "Well, Well. It's good to see my old lab being used again."

"What do you mean, "Your old lab" Tyranid? This is the Presidium on the Citadel!" Tevos shouted at the Tyranid.

" Ah yes, the Citadel. A bit emptier the last time I was here, but otherwise everything is very similar. You even still use that Mass Effect tech. You really need to advance more. Never understood why anyone would use the Mass Effect tech when the Warp and the Webway are around, personally. Their both much quicker, if riskier."

"What the hell are you, Tyranid!" Valern shouted.

"Well, you need to learn some manners, it appears Salarian. I still hold Mordin hostage, don't forget that. Anyway, I created the Tyranids."

"But Magnus said he diddn't know who did!" Sparticos added to the conversation.

"Well, you know now."

The Tyranids eyes flashed through a spectrum of colours while it said "No, you are_ not_ cutting me off Bird Face. Nor you, Corpse. None of you will!"

The creatures eyes changed to a blood red. The Tyranid roared "Blood for the Blood God!" before it charged out and set about killing, maiming and burning anything on the Presidium ring.

* * *

It had been a week since what would become known as the Presidium incident. The Citadel, previously a safe place where all freedoms were known and respected, had quickly changed into a place on the edge of oblivion. Citizens feared to go anywhere alone. People shut themselves away, fearing a attack. C- sec, despite a complete quarantine of the Citadel and the assistance of military forces in and around the Citadel, had failed to find any sign of the Tyranid. After the massacre of the Presidium and several other isolated incidents around the Citadel, there was little sign of the Tyranid. Sure, there were killings but they were isolated. The news network and Extranet had been down for days, leaving people in the dark about information. That was when the killings began.

* * *

A/N:Any guesses on who the black and white eyed Nid is?.


	8. Choices

The owner of Chora's den looked mournfully at his empty bar. The Presidium incident was not only a major political problem but was also a major problem for the vast majority of businesses on the Citadel, as well as the traders due to the quarrintine.

He heard a loud crash behind him as he turned around. The alien that was supposed to be the cause of all these problems was standing there, pointing a odd shaped limb at him. That was the last thing he ever saw.

* * *

Shepard sighed at the news. He _liked_ Chora's Den. But it was yet another lead in tracking down Magnus. He just wished the price diddn't have to be so high.

"Thinking about Chora's Den, Shepard?" Garrus walked up behind him. "The bartender was a friend of mine. I'll miss him. But the STG have made a breakthrough and managed to reactivate the Citadel's security systems. He will see justice soon."

Shepard nodded grimly.

"Commander. You need to hear this."

"Okay Joker, I'll be there"

Shepard turned to Garrus. "I wonder what got Joker so worked up. We better go see"

* * *

"What have you got for us Joker?"

Shepard walked into the cockpit with Garrus following close behind.

"Nothing much Commander, except Mangus has made a announcement. Or a ultimatum."

"Play it for us, Joker."

Magnus's reptilian face was shown on screen.

It spoke "Council and people of the Citadel. This is a demand. You will lift the quarantine and grant me a spaceship capable of FTL travel. If you refuse my request, the murders, which you cannot stop otherwise, will continue and my ship" The image changed to a picture of the massive Tyranid ship "will destroy your pathetic fleet around it, Professor Solous who may I remind you is a hostage of mine will be killed and then my ship will travel here, extract me and consume all life on this station and we will begin to harvest all life in the Galaxy. You have two days."

The image blanked out.

"That was...Unexpected. Any more leads on him?"

"I've just got some brilliant news. The STG have traced the signal to a house in Zakera Ward where the signal was broadcast from a few minutes ago. The house is now under siege by C-Sec and Commandoes but no one who has gone in has come out."

"Garrus, get Grunt and Jacob-we're going to find out what Magnus is really after."

* * *

The air car landed just outside the perimeter and as Shepard and his team cilmbed out, a officer walked over.

"Commander, I am glad to have someone with experience dealing with this sort of thing"

"Cut the talk:what's the situation Officer?"

"A Asari commando team went in ten minutes ago. There's been no sign of them or any of the other teams sent in."

"Grunt,take point- the rest of us will follow."

"I still don't see the point of this Commander- Can't C-Sec deal with it?"

"Jacob, I counted Magnus as a friend in the short time I knew him. I don't believe he would murder a innocent Turian for no apparent reason. I need to find out what's wrong with him."

"Commander, I gather you're going in?"

"I am, Officer. Keep the perimeter up unless you get other orders."

"Come out of there alive Commander- the Galaxy needs men like you."

Shepard smiled. " I'll come out alive Officer, you can count on that."

Shepard led his team into the building. It could have been any building on the Citadel except for the fresh bloodstains on the walls. "Ah Commander, come closer." Magnus's reptilian voice echoed down the hall. Shepard walked forwards while his team took covering positions. "Good, good. Since you're here, I presume the Council has agreed to my ultimatum?"

"That's where you're wrong Magnus-I have nothing to say to you from the Council except this- why?"

"Magnus?_Magnus?_ You really are gullible Commander. Falling for one of Bird-Faces old tricks? Pah. You humans really are pathetic sometimes."

"Who do you mean by Bird-Face?"

"I suppose I'm going to have to explain a lot, aren't I?"

The creature that Shepard, in the short time he had known him, called a friend, strode out of the shadows, bleeding from several wounds and a missing limb.

"Suprised, Commander? Those Asari got me without the protection of the Shadow but biotics die as easily as normal people when you stick a talon through their brains."

"Your explanation?"

" There was me and my siblings. The one you call Magnus and I call Bird-Face are the same person. He was one of my siblings. The five of us, well, for lack of a better word, fought. Eventually we attracted followers-soon our followers fought one another except for those who worshiped all of us and were fought by all.

Each of us had a focus- one was a great warrior, one, which is Magnus, was a great manipulator. Another specalised in chemical weapons and disease and the last favored biological enhancements and luring others into his cult."

"And you?" Shepard asked.

"I was... A parasite. A opportunist. While they fought, I would take cities, continents and planets from the others. Eventually I became so powerful the others allied against me and I fled to another galaxy to plan my return. This Galaxy. It was just after the first cycle when I arrived. The Reapers had left and it would be hundreds of years until spacefaring races discovered the Citadel. I set about creating a perfect weapon to destroy my idiot brothers. The end result was the Tyranids. They could evolve quickly and design a creature to target any weakness. I diddn't have enough power to control them while remaining a separate body, so I became their Hive Mind and unleashed them into the Universe in the direction of my home galaxy. Now we have come full circle."

"How many have you killed for your revenge?"

"So many. Too many. Enough Commander, that I don't count lives. I count Galaxies."

"And how many Galaxies have you harvested for your revenge?"

" Fifeteen or Sixteen."

" You exterminated every living creature in sixteen galaxies for the sake of _revenge_? I don't know whether I should kill you now or let the Council trial you for war crimes on a colossal scale"

"Go ahead Commander-do it. I won't resist."

"Kill him Commander-He doesn't deserve to live!" Jacob shouted

"Too many have died at his hands Commander- End him!" Garrus added.

"You know the consequences Commander-You kill me, I just possess a different body. It could be anyone- I would know all their memories, behaviours and attitudes. You wouldn't even know. It could be anyone- Grunt, Joker, Miranda- are you willing to take the risk? And then there's my ship, the Council's pathetic blockade fleet and Professor Solous. Will you kill me, while knowing you have doomed hundreds?"

* * *

A/N: I actually can't decide whether Shepard would let Magnus live or not so im going to write two chapters and see which I like better.


	9. Death

A/N: Sorry for the length of the chapter, but I needed to get it out while I had time.

* * *

Shepard pulled his gun back to check it was loaded before levelling it at Magnus's bone-plated head.

"What's it to be Commander? Feeling morally right and condemning a unknown friend to eternal damnation as they are absorbed by the hunger and laughter of my thirsting brothers? Or letting me go?"

"It appears I must deal out justice wherever I go, to anyone. Including you."

Shepard pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

"Out of ammo Commander? Or were you always a bad shot?" Magnus grinned. "Try again."

Shepard pulled the trigger again. And again. And again.

Nothing happened.

Magnus rubbed his head and said "Ow" sarcasticly.

"Garrus, Jordan, kill this son of a bitch!"

Garrus and Jordan levelled their guns and Magnus and opened fire.

Magnus was still leaning against the wall, smiling knowingly.

"Why can't we..."

Magnus returned fire with his weapon.

Jordan went down straight away, taking a dart to both eyes and the heart. The amount of darts had shredded through his shields and armour. Garrus took cover in a doorway but not before being hit twice in the left arm. Shepard took a dart to the back of the knee as he scampered into the cover offered by a pile of decaying bodies.

"You see how easily you can be tricked, Commander? Why I must escape?"

Shepard shot over the pile of bodies, catching Magnus in one of his upper limbs. Magnus began to retreat steadily towards the window at the back of the building, while trading fire with Shepard and Garrus. Eventually Magnus fired one last burst of darts, forcing Shepard and Garrus to take cover before he lept into and smashed through the window, leading out into a busy road. Magnus grabbed hold of a skycar, vaulted into it and shoved the Asari driver out the window before driving off into the Citadel.

"How did he..?"

"I don't know Shepard, I honestly don't. Guess we've got to inform Cerberus but we can grieve for Jacob later, for now we need to catch Magnus!"

"You're... You're right Garrus. Did you get a tracker on him?"

Garrus opened his Omni-tool.

"Yep, it appears this chase got a whole lot easier Commander."


End file.
